Into Yesterday
by DelanyStyle
Summary: AU/ Sakura grabbed her skateboard and snuck downstairs and out the door. She put the skateboard to the floor and began what she loved most. Skateboarding/OOC!Sasuke.   horrid at summaries
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is an author's note. Below is the story. :)

I got tired of seeing so many awesome SasuSaku fics unfinished, and though I'm a hypocrite and will probably not finish this one either, I wanted to start my own :)

Summary: Sakura grabbed her skateboard and snuck downstairs and out the door. She put the skateboard to the floor and began what she loved most.

Riding.

I would love to know if there are any mistakes, which there probably is :D

Sakura rolled over in bed. It seemed far too early to be up, but according to the light shining down onto her face, it was at least seven or eight o'clock. She groaned and covered her face with a crushed pillow that she had probably squashed to death during her sleep. She knew, though, that eventually her mother would come and wake her up _anyway, _so after a few moments of complaining into her pillow, she took it off her face and peered at her digital clock and read the time.

_8:37 am._

Sakura groaned once again. She was up at 8:37? On a Saturday? She scolded herself for the sin she had just committed. _Well, it makes no sense going back to sleep,_ Sakura decided. Not feeling the least bit tired any more, Sakura reluctantly dragged herself from bed and dressed herself, adorning a simple light pink shirt with a bunny design on it, and jeans. She looked in the mirror, and quickly passed her hand through her hair. Deciding it was neat enough, she left it out to hang just at shoulder length. Then she turned to the skateboard situated at the very corner of her mostly-empty room, and smirked.

~*0*~

Sakura and her family had just moved the day before, which was the reason for the plain-ness of Sakura's room. They had moved because of 's big promotion as a brain surgeon in a little town called Konoha. It was such a small and empty town compared to Suna, which was where they moved from. Sakura had complained endlessly about leaving her friends Kankuro, Temari and Gaara, but she knew that her father's job was more important than her own social status.

But she didn't say goodbye to _just_ her friends.

She had said goodbye to what she thought was the best skating park in the history of forever (that was a long time). She had said goodbye to the scene of most of her skate boarding accidents and bruises—and there were many. She even had a scar on the back of her hand from the first time she had tried to grind a rail. Needless to say she had missed the rail completely, and landed hand-first on the steps. She smiled as she remembered the complaining she did about her broken wrist.

Sakura looked at the back of her hand and thumbed the scar, smiling bitterly. She would never see that rail again.

But her mother had told her that the move wasn't a time for regrets, it was a time for 'new starts' and 'fresh beginnings' which were the same in Sakura's opinion. And thus they had moved from Suna into little old Konoha, the nothing town. The little forgotten village at the edge of the country. The coffee stain on a business man's tie. The spoiled milk in the—

Let's stop.

Shaking off her reminiscent memories, Sakura grabbed her skateboard and snuck downstairs and out the door. She put the skateboard to the floor and began what she loved most.

Skateboarding

~*0*~

Sakura took a mental note of every little detail in the area (which was easy, because she had ADD) so that she could make a route back home. Her attention deprived mind roamed over the little cracks in the pavement that she rode over, the huge oak tree she had nearly bumped into—there was a squirrel on the branch—and even the old lady crossing the street with the help of what appeared to be a boy scout. She felt sorry for the boy, because the old lady insisted that she didn't need help, and she continually whacked the boy scout with her heavy looking purse.

Then a strange noise came into earshot. Sakura perked up, listening intently. It sounded like joyful screaming, and skateboards on ramps, and everything Sakura was familiar with.

She was near a skate park.

Eagerly, Sakura turned toward the noise, and rode for a while following her ears. She followed it for a long time it seemed, because she felt like she was getting nowhere closer to the familiar noises of the skate park. The pinkette frowned inwardly, because after a few more minutes, she lost the sound. Finding a skate park wasn't easy when you had ADD. She manoeuvred her skateboard to turn around, and almost collided head-first into a huge mass.

Sakura fell off her board in surprise. What the hell was that?

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

Talking black masses? Sakura was going insane!

Maybe it was because her eyes were closed, but when Sakura opened them, she realized it wasn't just a black mass. It was a girl. Chocolate brown streaks of hair stuck out from under her helmet, and she had on a light pink shirt with dark pink leaf designs on it, followed by a modest blue skirt. She looked to be a bit older than Sakura, possibly 17. Skating pads were strapped to her elbows and knees. She was a skateboarder too. The girl extended her hand to help Sakura up.

"I am sooooo sorry!" She said again, brushing off Sakura's clothes, which surprisingly enough weren't dirty.

"I-it's fine, really!" Sakura tried to smile, but it came off weak and shy.

"No, I mean, I knocked you down! I'm such a clumsy person! Oh my god, are you okay?" The girl was looking all over Sakura for any injuries at this point.

"Yes, I'm just fine!" Sakura finally shouted, making the girl jump," I'm sorry I frightened you. I'm Sakura Haruno." Sakura extended a friendly hand. The girl smiled and took it shyly, shaking hands.

"Tenten."

"Just Tenten?"

Tenten nodded," You're new here?"

It was Sakura's turn to nod," Moved in yesterday."

"Cool! I see you're a skater." Tenten was looking Sakura up and down now, acknowledging the girl in front of her.

"Yup, I was trying to find the skate park."

Tenten stifled a laugh," You're a bit off, then. It's about a mile that way." Tenten pointed in the opposite direction Sakura was coming from.

The pinkette smiled shyly and looked at her feet in embarrassment," Ah, well... new town, ya know..."

"Want me to help you find it?"

"Would you...?" Sakura slowly looked back up from her shoes.

"Of course! I mean, it's the least I can do after knocking you down," Tenten hopped on to her skateboard and signalled for Sakura to follow. Tentatively, the pinkette hopped onto her skateboard and followed.

~*0*~

Sakura was completely bushed by the time they reached the park, but once she laid eyes on the various rails, half-ramps and obstacles in the place, her fatigue was completely forgotten. Cerulean eyes opened wide at the amount of skateboarders, roller-skaters and BMX riders covering the ramps. They pulled off amazing tricks and flips as if gravity did not exist for them.

"Welcome to Konoha Skate Park," Tenten rode up beside her," Pretty amazing huh?"

Sakura merely nodded mutely.

"See those girls over there?" Tenten signalled to a half-ramp with two girls huddled together, talking and laughing. One had raven-blue hair that fell down to her waist, and she had a skateboard at her side. The other had a platinum pony-tail dangling down from her head, whilst a pair a roller-skates were strapped to her feet.

"They're my friends. The blonde one is Ino and the raven is Hinata. Hinata skates, she's pretty good. But Ino roller-skates and she's terrible. But we don't tell her," the brunette winked secretively at Sakura, who giggled in return. Tenten skated up to them, Sakura close on her heels.

"Hey guys," Tenten greeted," This is Sakura. She's new."

Sakura waved from behind Tenten's back, feeling shyer than she ever had in her life.

Ino waved back, then answered in a large, commanding voice," Don't be afraid, we don't bite!" Sakura smiled shyly, and inched towards the pair. The raven haired girl, apparently Hinata, gave Sakura an equally shy smile.

"So..." Sakura began," You guys ride?" They both nodded.

"Wanna see my moves? They're pretty killer!" Ino stood up onto her roller-skates, stumbling. Sakura stole a glance at Tenten, who was stifling laughter. Ino shot the brunette a dagger-like stare, before skating clumsily off.

"I-I skate too..." Hinata added softly. Her startlingly grey eyes met Sakura's, silently asking if she wanted to see, and Sakura nodded encouragingly. Hinata smiled gently and hopped onto her skateboard with grace, pushing off the ground. Soon both Hinata and Ino were on the half-pipes, Ino simply skating back and forth, adding in what seemed to be a twirl once in a while, and Hinata doing a combination of kick-flips and ollies. Soon, Sakura's attention began to shift from the girls' half-pipe to a half-pipe a little ways away from where she and Tenten were standing.

A group of boys were standing at the top of the huge half-pipe, one going after another. They seemed much more advanced than Sakura herself, but not all of them had a skateboard. One boy, Sakura saw, who was very short looking from her perspective, had a BMX bike next to him. One boy also had a set of roller-skates on and the remaining few males had skateboards.

"Ah, so I see you've seen the guys, huh?" Tenten followed Sakura's gaze. The pinkette nodded. One of the figures on the half-pipe suddenly began moving, skating into the obstacle and began to a series of complicated tricks.

"That one is Kiba," Tenten pointed out," He's like the most unpredictable guy in school, and he's pretty loud. Good thing he's good at skateboarding." Once Kiba finished, he high-fived another guy, this time the person was blonde, and the blonde boy began his turn on the half-pipe.

"That's Naruto," Tenten said again," He's like a perfect match for Kiba. They're both loud, but I think Naruto's louder. He's pretty good, too."

Once Naruto had finished, he high-fived a tall-looking fellow who was wearing roller-skates, and he took off down the half-pipe.

"That's Neji..." Tenten's voice seemed to ring with something akin to adoration," He's really good, but not as good as..." She trailed off as the two girls saw Neji pull of a tricky stunt. Sakura thought she heard Tenten sigh when Neji returned to the top of the half-pipe and high-fived the last boy; the short one with the BMX bike. When Sakura turned to Tenten for an explanation as to who the boy was, she saw the brunette was still eyeing Neji. Sighing, Sakura nudged Tenten in the ribs, and the girl gave a small jump.

"Sorry," Sakura apologized without much emotion," Who's _that_?" She watched the BMX biker pull off what seemed to be a tricky stunt. The boy rode to the top of the half-pipe and reared up his bike. Spinning the front wheel 360 degrees, he came back down and began some other trick.

"That? Oh, that's Sasuke," Tenten finally answered," He's really shy, but he's such a sweetheart when you get to know him."

Sakura looked at Sasuke pull off another trick before returning to the top of the half-pipe_... Sasuke, huh?_

**A/N:**

Wooo, first SasuSaku fanfiction. I'm scared XD After reading a whole bunch of awesome fics like these, there's just no way I can compare. But eh, might as well give it a shot :p Let's hope the other people don't find out (looks around nervously) Oh, if anyone knows how to put those little line breaks, that would be helpful :3 Flames are welcome, because they're just making my story look better by giving it reviews. So if you want to flame, keep in mind you're just making my story more popular.

Now I'm going to say something childish:

_I got a jar of dirt!_

_I got a jar of dirt!_

_I got a jar of dirt!_

_And guess what's inside it!_

R&R


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Hey,look! It's another chapter! Whaaaaat? I realized alot of you added this to your Story Alert+ list, thanks **to Ostekake, PsYcOgUrL911, Shadowdemon1911, rushninja, brebabi101 **and** Dark Angel Arise** for adding it to their Alert list, and special thanks to **brebabi101, rushninja, MistressThorn, ImaFREAK **and** yellow-daisies-in-the-sky** for reviewing. You guys make me feel all warm 3 (n a good way!)

~*0*~

"Hey Sakura..."

"Yeah?"

"You've seen our tricks, but we haven't seen yours."

It was later on in the day, and the girls were situated in the half-pipe, talking to each other. Sakura had spent most of the morning staring at Sasuke pull of insanely hard tricks, before he and the other boys had packed up and gone home. For the whole time Sakura was spying on the group, she realized that Sasuke didn't only ride BMX, but he also knew how to skateboard and roller-skate as well. He was _really_ good.

"Well, I'm not that good, you know. You're probably better than me..." Sakura blushed, embarrassed.

"Ah, don't be stupid!" Ino punched her shoulder," Of course, nobody can possibly be better than me, but..." and so she went off on another rant about herself. Tenten hit the blonde's shoulder harshly.

"Stop being so self-centered, Ino!" Tenten scolded, then turned her attention back to Sakura," Pleeease Sakura!" From behind the brunette, Hinata nodded encouragingly. Then Ino began to join in. After minutes of constant pestering from the three—mostly Ino—the pinkette got up and hopped onto her skateboard.

She rode into the half-pipe and began to do a series of kick-flips. Nothing special. But when she got warmed up, she rode to the edge of the half-pipe and put her hand on the edge of the half-pipe, causing the rest of her body to flip upside-down into midair. She came down and continued riding around as Ino, Tenten and Hinata watched from the sidelines.

"Hey girlies!" A high-pitched, annoying voice emitted from behind the two. Hinata spun around and turned a bright red. She would've fainted if it weren't for Ino snapping her fingers in front of her face, bringing her out of her trance.

"N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata began pushing her two index fingers together shyly, as she always did when the number one hyperactive blonde came 'round.

"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto came up to her and clapped her shoulder, giving her a broad grin. He was closely followed by Kiba, Neji and Sasuke.

"Hey, guys, I thought you left," Ino enquired to the boys.

"Well, we were going, but then Neji saw you, Tenten, and wanted to say hi." Neji promptly hit Kiba in the shoulder.

"Hey, who's that?" Naruto looked over to the pinkette who was still skateboarding in the half-pipe.

"That's Sakura," Tenten replied," She just moved in yesterday. She's pretty good, huh?"

"Yeah, still not as good as some other people though," Kiba looked at Sasuke, who was looking intently at Sakura pull off a few mildly hard tricks.

"Looks like you finally found yourself a girlfriend, ne teme?" Naruto slapped Sasuke's shoulder, who just shrugged off the blonde's hand.

"You guys are the worst," Tenten remarked, only half-jokingly.

Sasuke only went back to watching the pinkette_...Sakura, huh?_

"Oi teme," Naruto passed a hand over Sasuke's face," Is anyone in there?"

Sasuke slapped Naruto's hand away," Dobe..."

"Awww, is Sasu-chan crushing on Sakura?" Ino teased. Sasuke stared at her. It was a simple look, but it got Ino to stop," Gosh..." the blonde shied away.

"Anyways," Naruto yawned, folding his arms behind his head in a lazy position," We'd better get going."

"You guys don't wanna wait until Sakura's done?" Tenten offered," You guys can come meet her. She already knows who you are.

"Nah, we can meet her on Monday, or Sunday or some other day," Naruto answered. Tenten merely sighed. Shikamaru was beginning to rub off on him.

~*0*~

Once Sakura had finished her round in the half-pipe, the four girls decided it was time to head home. It was nearing lunchtime and although Sakura really wanted to stay and skateboard more, her mother would wonder where she went. And besides, she was beginning to think her stomach was growing a mind of its own. She bid goodbye to Tenten, Ino and Hinata and they exchanged phone numbers, promising to text each other the soon. Of course, Sakura skated home.

~*0*~

"Sakura, if you don't mind my asking, but where the _bloody hell_ were you?" Of course, with the risks of coming home, you had to face Mother's Wrath.

"Out..." Sakura dismissed, as if she hadn't been out at the skate park all morning.

"Out _where_?" Mrs. Haruno was practically gritting her teeth into each other.

"Out... skating..." Again another vague answer. Was her mother ever going to get a full answer out of this stubborn child?

"Out _skating_. Always out _skating_! Don't you care about family meals anymore, Sakura? What did I tell you about skating?"

"That it was dangerous..."

"And?"

"And... that I should do it for my entire life? I agree!" Sakura faked a happy smile.

"Sakura Haruno." Oh god. She was getting _serious_. Sakura knew not to mess around with her mom when she was serious.

"Sorry...I'll—"

"Oh no! Sorry won't cut it this time! I want you to...to...!" _The good thing about okaa-san_, Sakura thought, is that she can never have the guts to punish me.

"Ugh! Just don't let me see you do it again!" With that, her mother stomped out of the kitchen and up the stairs, most likely to continue unpacking. Sakura greedily reached for her cold breakfast. Yum, eggs and bacon.

After warming it up in the microwave, Sakura sat down at the table and began eating, her cell phone at her side anxiously awaiting replies from Tenten and the gang. The pinkette was having a beautiful zoning-out moment when her phone beeped, causing her to fling her fork—still laden with scrambled eggs—upwards, which in turn carried its load to the ceiling, where it stuck. Sakura merely prayed it didn't fall. She used a clean finger to check the message she received

**From Tenten:** heeeeeyyz!

Sakura smiled at the childish reply, and using her pinkie finger, she slowly typed a reply.

**From Sakura:** lol hi

**From Tenten**: cant wait 4 2morrow 3

**From Sakura**: wats happening 2morrow?

**From Tenten**: the skate park duh

**From Sakura**: oh lol ya, mum nearly caught me tho.

**From Tenten**: nearly?

**From Sakura**: she cnt punish me 4 her life.

**From Tenten**: lolz!

Suddenly, she got another text. It was from Hinata.

**From Hinata**: Ohayo...

**From Tenten**: wow hina-chan you use proper language even in txt messages?

**From Sakura**: oh stop teasing her 10-10

**From Tenten**: im sorry i cnt resist, ur just so cute hina 333

**From Hinata**: (sigh)

**From Sakura**: lolz!

And then, Ino began texting, too.

**From Ino**: wats up girlies?

**From Tenten**: omgz narutos rubbing off on you ino!

**From Sakura**: you r kinda like naruto tho ino

**From Ino**: you guys suck

**From Hinata**: Ino! What kind of language is that?

**From Ino**: uh, normal language?

**From Hinata**: (sweatdrop)

**From Sakura**: LOL!

**From Tenten**: ur the best ino 3

**From Ino**: don't i no it! brb

It went on for a while like that until...

**From Tenten**: hey saku

**From Sakura**: ya?

**From Tenten**: did u c the guys watching u earlier 2day?

**From Sakura**: wht guys? There were guys! 

**From Hinata**: Uh...Sakura...

**From Sakura**: !#$%^lfk48r

**Tenten**: Sakuraaaa...

**From Sakura**: 

**From Ino**: im baack!

**From Sakura**: 

**From Ino**: sakura wth?

**From Sakura**: asfg

**From Tenten**: she's freakin cuz i told her the guys were watching her.

**From Sakura**: Yesssss D: D: D: D: D:

**From Ino**: pfft. Those guys r our frens, saku, no need 2 panic. Ur gunna haf 2 get used 2 them staring u if you wanna b frens wif us. xD

**From Hinata**: Ino, I had a grammar-related heart attack when I saw that sentence.

**From Sakura**: ur friends?

**From Ino**: yup.

**From Sakura**: well, wat did they say?

**From Tenten**: they thought u were prett gud, especially sasukeeee ~

**From Sakura**: he was watching too?

**From Tenten**: mmhmm. He couldn't stop staring u, hon.

**From Ino**: MAAAAAWWWWW 3 3 3 luv 1st site.

**From Tenten**: b quiet ino.

**From Sakura**: b quiet ino.

**From Hinata**: Be quiet, Ino.

**From Ino**: gosh guys. D:

**From Sakura**: he was staring me?

**From Tenten**: yup, oh gosh guys i hav 2 go, studying 2 do.

**From Ino**: OMGZZZ i 4 got we had weekend homework, stupid skool (

**From Hinata**: Yeah, I think I have to go too, Neji is getting irritated with the constant texting.

**From Sakura**: u guys r leaving me? :(

**From Tenten**: Yes.

**From Tenten**: o wait sakura if u r goin 2 the same school as us, which u probably r coz theres only 1 high school in konoha, but ya, theres sumthin u need 2 no about sasuke. He has—

But Sakura had stopped paying attention, and turned her phone off before Tenten could send her message.

~*0*~

It was a lazy Sunday morning when Sakura had woken up, and she yearned to do only one thing, and it was skating. Hastily getting out of bed, she grabbed her skateboard and adorned her helmet and pads. She headed into the kitchen to grab an apple, and was met by her mother. Her arms were crossed and her foot tapped constantly on the ground.

"Hey mom," Sakura greeted, obviously not taking in her mother's seriousness.

"Sit." Before Mrs. Haruno even finished the word, Sakura had her butt on a kitchen table seat.

"Am I in... trouble...?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, Sakura. Sakura, Sakura, Sakura...Sakura Sakura..." Sakura was beginning to worry about her mother's mental health at this point in time," You and that skateboard are stuck together like glue, aren't you?"

Sakura heaved a sigh," Mom, if this is about—"

"Oh no! If you want to go and, oh, _break your neck_, on a piece of wood, be my guest. But once you start school you can't let it take over your life. There's a time for work, and a time for play."

"I know that, mom! Geez! Give me a break! We just moved in and I need to relax a bit. It's the day before school starts! Can't you just give me today?"

"Fine, Sakura. But when school starts, _absolutely no_ skating on weekdays. _Or_ until homework is done, do you hear me?"

"Yes, mother."

"Off you go, then."

Thanking her mother, Sakura picked her skateboard up once again and rushed out the door, feeling the familiar sensation of the wind kissing her face.

~*0*~

When Sakura reached the skate park, she saw Tenten, Ino, Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto all in the half-pipe. Sasuke had skates on this time, and seemed to be helping Ino with something, but it didn't look successful. Naruto was doing a couple of rounds in the half-pipe, while Tenten and Hinata laughed at the tutoring session going on between Ino and Sasuke.

"Ino—no, push forward. Yes—no! Wait...ow!"

"Okay I think I got it!" Ino had grabbed on to Sasuke's shoulder and was using him for balance. She pushed off him and skated a few inches, before falling smack on her bottom.

"Oyvey..." Sakura could hear Sasuke mutter under his breath, smacking his forehead with his palm. He skated over to help poor Ino.

"Hey guys," Sakura rode over to Tenten and Hinata, watching with ill-concealed laughter as Ino fought with Sasuke from being pulled back up.

"Poor Sasuke," Tenten remarked," He has to tutor Ino." Hinata giggled quietly.

"He tutors people?" Sakura asked.

"Only friends," Tenten replied," He does it for free. But he really should get paid." They watched as the raven haired teen pushed Ino a little too hard from her back, and she shot a string of curses at him when she fell once again.

"He also gives lessons to Hinata and me," Tenten added," He could teach you, if that's what you're asking."

"So you're saying I'm not good enough?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"No, of course not!" Tenten answered playfully. Just then, Naruto came up to the pair, having finished his round on the pipe.

"Hey, you're that Sakura girl from yesterday, huh? You were skating on the half pipe!" Naruto hit her shoulder playfully. What was with these people and hitting her shoulder?

"Ahh, yeah..." Sakura sounded more brave than she was actually feeling.

"OW, INO!"

"Sorreeee!" The blonde was standing over Sasuke, who was sprawled on his back on the half-pipe, apparently having been knocked down by Ino," You're the one who put your body there." Sakura smiled amusedly at them.

"So, you see the teme, huh!" Naruto grinned at Sakura, who blushed, obviously embarrassed. Then suddenly, Naruto leaned in closer to the pinkette's ear," Just between you and me... he has a crush on you." Then, he laughed loudly and pet her back.

"Oi teme!" Naruto now shouted to his friend," Come meet this girl! I think she likes you!" Sighing, Sasuke skated up the Sakura, albeit reluctantly.

"Uh...hi?" Wow. Tenten was right. Sasuke really was shy," Y-you're Sakura, right? That girl we saw skating the other day?"

"Yup," Sakura smiled kindly and extended a hand. Sasuke hesitated before slowly bringing his hand to meet hers. Sakura realized that he wasn't as short as she enitially thought, but he was still short for his age—about 5"4 or a little taller—but Sakura didn't really mind, she was happy she had someone who was nearly her height, if a little short.

"You're pretty good," Sasuke commented, leaving Sakura to blush once again," Wanna ride with me?"

Sakura looked at the boy," Uh s-sure..."

**A/N**: This chapter was a bit longer than the last, so hooray 3 I finally found out where this story is going, so double-yay.

R&R would be nice.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: 'Nother chapter. SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG D: Alot of stuff has come up and it looks like updates will be MUCH slower. But please, bear with me :(**

**I'd like to thank ImaFREAK and rushninja and yoyoyo for reviewing the last chapter. I **

**ANYWAY. I realized that when I do the heart sign thing it dosen't do the less than sign, so I came up with a different heart—S2**

**SO, **

**S2 my lovelies**

**So, if you remembered in last chapter, Tenten was about to tell Sakura that Sasuke had something, but she never finished texting. Whaddya think it is? The first one to guess correctly shall get an honourable mention in the next chapter, and a uh... a... cookie? Yes :D**

**No hints. Although there might be some in this chapter. (looks around suspiciously.)**

Sakura felt owned.

For every inch Sakura skated, Sasuke seemed to skate a mile. Still, she didn't mind when he did a sick and amazing trick, nor did she falter when he did a spine-shattering back flip. She didn't mind at _all._ Sakura realized though, that Sasuke's relative lack in size helped him with roller-skating, what with the low centre of gravity and light weight, the raven haired boy made it look absolutely effortless. The rest of their friends had left a long time ago, having grown bored of watching the pair, and nothing happening between them.

The pinkette herself pulled off a few good tricks, though she didn't land them well. Maybe it was just adrenaline, but she could swear Sasuke was staring at her for a large portion of the time they were skating. She grew sad when Sasuke had told her it was time to stop. He didn't look the least bit tired, but—

"You look exhausted," Sasuke commented with barely concealed laughter," You okay?"

"Pushaw, of course I'm fine!" Sakura straightened her back and put her hands on her hips in a commanding gesture, only for it to falter and the pinkette to double over in fatigue again.

"Maybe we should head back?" Sasuke flicked his head in a random direction.

"Yeah, I think so too. . ." Sakura tried her best not to pant," Do we. . . have to. . .walk home?"

"Well, I was, but if you can't manage, there's a taxi service near here. . ." Sasuke began walking over to her to try and help her stand. Sakura pretended she didn't feel a small spark of electricity when the boy put a hand on her back,"Are you sure you're okay. . .?"

"Yes!" Sakura scoffed, beginning to walk forward, then stumbling," Okay, no...?"

"Come on," Sasuke picked up one of Sakura's arms and slung it over his own shoulder. Now see, Sakura was never used to getting so much attention from boys. The last boy she had gotten all but a glance from was Daisuke, a horrible little boy she had met in kindergarten. When they were colouring, Daisuke had pretended to be nice to Sakura to get at her colours. Her _very expensive_ sixty pack of crayons. To cut a long story semi-short, Sakura had ended up with nothing but a short brown crayon, looking similar to poo, and Daisuke had snuck the rest into his pants, hiding them from Sakura for the rest of the day. And she never found those crayons again, nor wanted to know where they had gone.

Sasuke whistled slightly, waving a hand over the girl's face," Yo."

"Oh! Sorry. . ." Sakura blushed slightly," You were saying. . .?"

"I said that if you didn't have any money, I could pay and we could go over to my house until you're fit to walk home." Sakura's blush grew even more violent.

"If you don't mind, I mean, we just met. It took me about three years to go over by Temari's house and—"

"Temari?" Sasuke interjected.

Sakura frowned," Never mind. It is kind of too early to go home. . ."

"Well come on!" Sasuke began walking out of the skate park.

"Wait! I—rah!" Sakura tripped over her own feet. Sasuke suppressed a sigh and walked over to aid the stumbling pinkette.

~*0*~

Sasuke's house was modest. It had normal beige furniture, and white walls. A few pictures hung here and there, and a few plants were situated in their living room. Sasuke helped Sakura out of the car and up to their front door. Satisfied that the pink-haired girl could stand on her own, the raven opened the glass-sliding door, into their living room.

"Are you sure it's okay? I mean your parents obviously don't—"

"Eh," Sasuke shrugged before Sakura could finish," My parents don't really watch what I do, ever since. . ." The boy trailed off for a while, before seemingly coming back and shaking his head slightly," Anyway, come in."

Sakura hobbled into their living room and next to their couch—holy _mother_, that couch was looking _comfy_—but didn't sit. Being a well-mannered child, she waited for an invitation to take a seat. Once Sasuke had turned around from sliding the glass door shut, he looked at Sakura and raised a slender eyebrow.

"Well?" he said.

"Well. . . may I sit?"

"Manners, manners," Sasuke clicked his tongue, as if manners were a bad thing," Just sit. I'll get some water."

Resisting the urge to _completely collapse and shut down,_ Sakura seated herself daintily on the soft, beige couch and crossed her legs, waiting patiently for her host to come back with water. And he did, not long after, and handed it to the guest. He, himself, though, plopped straight down on the couch, not even taking a second glance to see how absolutely _cushy_ it was, and clicked on the television.

Sakura took a neat sip of water," You have a very nice house."

Saskue shrugged.

"I love this couch."

Shrug.

"It's very comfortable."

Shrug.

"Hey wait, are your parents even home?"

"Nope. They're out preparing Leiko's birthday. . ."

"Leiko?"

"She's my adoptive sister. Ever since she came into the family, everyone has pretty much set their attention on making her happy." Sasuke's eyes grew dark. Did he harbour dislike for a poor orphan?

"Aww!" Sakura commented, and immediately regretted it. A shadow passed over Sasuke's face. To fill the awkward silence that ensued, Sakura set down her glass and cleared her throat," It's nice of your parents to adopt, though?"

Suddenly, the dark look left Sasuke's features," Yeah, I guess. . . But it's like my parents have forgotten that I even exist."

"I'm sure that didn't happen! They're just busy taking care of Leiko!"

"Oh?" Sasuke looked at Sakura," My birthday was two weeks ago. Mom and dad forgot about it because they were anxious for Leiko's birthday, and they wanted it to be 'perfect'." Sasuke put air quotes around his last spoke word.

"How old is Leiko?"

"Fourteen."

"Then why. . .?"

"That's what I always think. If she's so grown up, why does she need all this attention? When I asked dad this, he told me that Leiko was a 'troubled child' and needed a 'good and nurturing family' to help her on the 'right track' of life again. Apparently that automatically translates into: Leiko gets all the attention from now on. Deal with it."

"I'm sure they didn't completely forget about you," Sakura offered. Sasuke merely looked at her and shook his head.

"Eh," he shrugged," I just have to—" the raven suddenly stopped midsentence and began staring at Sakura without blinking, and making some sort of chewing motion with his mouth.

"What's wrong?" Sakura frowned," Is there something on my face?" She passed a hand over her features but the boy in front of her didn't even blink.

"Uh... Sasuke?" the pinkette waved a hand in front of the aforementioned boy's face. No reaction.

"Sasuke, stop. That's really scary. . ." Sakura began to get frightened. What if Sasuke was stuck like that? What if he's really a robot, and something in his motherboard-chip-thing exploded? All these plausible options ran through her mind.

"—deal with it," he suddenly came back, finishing his sentence as if nothing ever happened. Sakura jumped at his sudden responsiveness.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"Just now, you just stopped talking and then—"

"I never stopped talking," the raven was raising a sceptical eyebrow at her now.

"Nevermind. . ." Sakura trailed off. After a small silence, in which Sakura stared at Sasuke intently and Sasuke tried to ignore her, the phone rang, and Sasuke immediately got up to answer.

"Hello? Oh, hi Mother. . . " he immediately frowned," Yeah, okay. Bye." The boy directed his dark gaze toward the pinkette," Mom's coming home just now, you gotta go."

Sakura nodded, nearly feeling refreshed from her rest at Sasuke's house.

"Yeah, I assumed so," Sakura got up from her couch, sloppily drinking the rest of her water," Bye."

Sasuke opened the sliding glass door for her, and she was off.

~*0*~

Sakura decided to take a cab home, stuffing her skateboard in the back seat of the cramped yellow vehicle. Almost immediately after settling down and telling the cabby her destination, she got a text.

**From Ino**: hey hun x)

Sakura smiled. She should've known it was Ino.

**From Sakura**: oh god, it's YOU.

**From Ino**: u no u luv me x)

**From Sakura**: hey guess wat

**From Ino**: aliens crash landed in ur back yard? :O

**From Sakura**: No.

**From Ino**: ur constipated?

**From Sakura**: ew, no.

**From Ino**: u drank kiba's sweat?

**From Sakura**: i don't know him well enough to be drinking his sweat, ino.

**From Ino**: then WHAAATUUUH!111

**From Sakura**: i went over by sasukes house :D

**From Ino**: OMG did u do him?

**From Sakura**: ino, seriously. Stop guessing.

**From Ino**: fine D:

**From Ino**: what did u do then?

**From Sakura**: just talked, but then something weird happened.

**From Ino**: oh? Did HE do U?

**From Sakura**: Ino.

**From Ino**: :( i like 2 assume.

**From Sakura**: he just stared into space all weird like, then he came back like nothing happend.

**From Ino**: OH! i no!

**From Sakura**: u know what that was?

**From Ino**: ya! That was his—

Suddenly, Sakura's phone screen went blank. She sat there raging for a while at her phone—much to the underwhelming reaction from the cabby—before she realized that it wasn't the phone's fault. She had forgotten to charge her phone. She facepalmed.

~*0*~

**A/N: sorry for the short chapter :( :( :( The other one was pretty long so I though it kinda made up for it? Plus I didn't know what else to do to end off the story. . . **

**OOH!**

**Next chapter is going to be a READER'S CHAPTER, so just go and review, or message me, about what you want to see in the next chapter, and it'll be there! Whether it be fluff, things exploding, you name it :'D The next chapter is all about my lovelies. :3 I want to make it up to you for the short chapter.**


	4. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE

A/N: Okay, I know I haven't been updating as often as usual, but these past weeks have been extremely busy for me. There's a whole bunch of projects and such going on in school, and I'm even struggling to get this AN posted. So this story is on a _**VERY TEMPORARY HIATUS**_, just until the next two weeks are over, and school is regular once again. I sincerely apologize to all my faithful followers, but I'm going to make it up to you with an extremely long chapter next time I update.

I really am sorry. Please don't kill me :(


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